Fastening means for a motor vehicle door

ABSTRACT

A latch, particularly for vehicle doors, includes a keeper for mounting on a door frame and provided with a recess. A catch for mounting on a door which is associated with a door frame includes a catch pin receivable in the recess and adapted for rotation about its axis. The catch pin includes an abutment face which cooperates with the keeper upon penetration of the catch pin into the recess to thereby prevent opening of the door.

United States Patent lnventors Peter U. Putsch Mannweiler Pl'alz; KarlD. Schoerken, Wuppertal-Ronsdorf, Germany Appl. No. 765,334 Filed Oct.7, 1968 Patented Feb. 16, 1971 Assignee Fritz Keiper Remscheid-Haston,Germany Priority May 24, 1968, June 28, 1967 Germany 1,703,463 and62,666

Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 667,717, Sept. 14, 1967, nowPatent No. 3,416,826.

FASTENING MEANS FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE DOOR 13 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 292/198, 292/340 Int. Cl. E05c 3/00 Field of Search 292/340, 198,216, 5

[56] References Cited UN lTED STATES PATENTS 2,458,751 1/1949 Voight292/198 2,952,487 9/1960 Roethel 292/198 3,130,997 4/1964 Kirk 292/2803,388,939 6/1968 Colell 292/198 PrimaryExaminer-Richard E. MooreAttorney-Michael S. Striker ABSTRACT: A latch, particularly for vehicledoors, includes a keeper for mounting on a door frame and provided witha recess. A catch for mounting on a door which is associated with a doorframe includes a catch pin receivable in the recess and adapted forrotation about its axis. The catch pin includes an abutment face whichcooperates with the keeper upon penetration of the catch pin into therecess to thereby prevent opening of the door.

FASTENING MEANS FOR A MOTOR VEHICLE DOOR CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATEDAPPLICATIONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relatesgenerally to latches, and more particularly to latches for use inconnection with vehicle doors.

It is known to provide latches for vehicle doors consisting of a keeperwhich is connected with the door frame and provided with projections,and a catch which is connected to the door and provided with a catch pinwhich enters into a recess of the keeper when the door is closed and isprovided with abutment faces cooperating with the projections on thekeeper so as to prevent undesired opening of the door. The catch pin istumable about its axis and for this purpose is tumably mounted in abushing. A portion of the catch pin is located exteriorly of the bushingand it is this portion which cooperates with the projections on thekeeper for maintainingthe latch in closed condition. This portion has alarger diameter than the portion of the catch pin which is mounted forrotation in the bushing.

This known construction requires a relatively significant expenditure ofmaterial for its construction and this of course increases the expenseof such latches, particularly in view of the fact that relatively highquality materials must be used in their construction.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a latchof the type under discussion which requires a lesser expenditure ofmaterials while providing a safety factor which is at least equal tothat of known constructions.

'SUMMARYOF THE INVENTION In accordance with the above object, and otherswhich will become apparent hereafter, one feature of our inventionresides in the provision of a latch, particularly a latch suitable forvehicle doors, which comprises akeeper which is to be mounted on thedoor frame and is provided with a recess. A catch is provided which isto be mounted on the door associated with the door frame and includes acatch pin receivable in the recess and adapted for rotation about itsaxis. The catch pin includes an abutment face which cooperates with thekeeper upon penetration of the catch pin into the recess to therebyprevent opening of the door.

The portion of the catch pin which is receivable in the recess andcooperates with the keeper is substantially cylindrical and has a largerdiameter than the portion or portions of the catch pin which are mountedfor rotation, for instance in a bushing provided for this purpose. Inaccordance with the invention this portion which cooperates with thekeeper is provided with an inclined face which substantiallysemicircularly surrounds it and is produced by material removal; thecentral axis of this portion is eccentric relative to the axis ofrotation of the pin. With this construction the material required forconstruction of the catch is reduced but the lever arm for the inclinedface, that is the face which abuts against the projections on the keeperwhen the door is being closed so that, as a result of the forces actingto introduce the catch pin into the recess of the keeper and bringingthis inclined face into contact with the projections on the keeper, thecatch pin is rotated until it can snap into locking engagement with theprojections on the keeper.

Advantageously, the central axis is offset relative to the axis ofrotation to that side of the pin on which the abutment face is providedwhich will engage the projections on the keeper in the closed or lockedcondition of the latch. Thereby the abutment face and that portion ofthe inclined face which respectively cooperate with the projections ofthe keeper are located in the positions of greatest eccentricity and arethus located farthest spaced from the axis of rotation of the catch pin.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims.

The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and itsmethod of operation, together with additional objects and advantagesthereof, will be best understood from the following description ofspecific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanyingdrawing. I

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammaticsection of one embodiment of the invention as taken on the line 1-1 ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a somewhat diagrammatic section taken on the line lI-Il ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic section of another embodiment of theinvention as taken on the line III-III of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 4 is a section taken on the line IV-IV of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the drawing indetail, and firstly the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, it willbe seen that our latch consists of a catch 10 and a keeper 11-. Thecatch 10 is to be mounted on a door which is not illustrated because itis not believed to be essential for an understanding of the invention,and the keeper 11 is to-be mounted on a door frame which has similarlybeen omitted.

The catch 10 is provided with a closure plate 12 from which thereprojects at right angles a catch pin 13 which is rotatably mounted in abearing bushing 14 extending to the free end of the catch pin 13. At thefree end, the catch pin 13 is stepped so that an annular shoulder 17 isformed, and at the front end of the bearing bushing 14 there is provideda bore 16 corresponding to the free end 15 of the catch pin 13 andconically configurated so as to obtain an annular shoulder 18. Theannular shoulder 17 does not abut against the annular shoulder 18because of the conical configuration of the latter.

At its other or rearward end, identified with reference number 19, thecatch pin 13 is also stepped and a ring 20 is placed over the steppedend 19, this ring 20 having an outer diameter in excess of that of thecatch pin 13. This measure simplifies the manufacture of the bushing 14because the bore diameter increases in the direction towards therearward end. Furthen'nore, the catch pin 13 can be introduced togetherwith the ring 20 from the rearward end into the bushing 14 whereupon thering 20 is secured in the bushing 14, advantageously by press fitting itand offsetting an edge portion 21 of the bushing 14.

The width of the ring 20 corresponds to the spacing between the annularshoulder 22 provided at the stepped end 19 of the catch pin 17 and arelease lever 23 provided rigidly and nonrotatably at the rearward endof the catch pin 13. The middle portion of the bushing 14 is providedwith a cutout 24 through which the projections 25 and 26, or rather theabutment surfaces 27 and 28 provided on the projections 25 and 26 of thekeeper 1] can engage the catch pin 13. The cutout 24 is provided in thehalf of the bushing 14 which is in the drawing the uppermost half andextends transversely of the longitudinal extension of the bushing 14.

The portion 44 of the catch pin 13 which is located in the region of thecutout 24 has a diameter which is larger than the diameter of the stepsof the stepped ends 15 and 19 of the catch pin 13; it is provided withan inclined face 29 by material removal so that the portion 44 has asubstantially semicircular cross section. As FIG. 2 shows particularlyclearly, the face 29 is somewhat inclined to the direction of closure.To open the latch from a closed position the catch pin 13 is turned bythe release lever 23 in such a manner that the inclined face 29 extendsin parallelism with the direction of closure whereby the catch pin 13 isreleased by the projections 25 and 26 of the keeper 11. A springprovided in operative engagement with the release lever 23 and notillustrated in detail, permanently biases the catch pin 13 to its basicor closure position so that, when the door is closed and the catch pinenters into the keeper 1], the inclined face 29 will abut against theshoulder or lead-in faces 30 and 31 of the projections 25 and 26,respectively, and will effect rotation of the catch pin 13 until thelatter can snap behind the projections 25 and 26 so that the latch issecured.

The inclined face 29 is, as shown clearly in FIG. 2, concavely curvedwhereby a relatively large component of force in direction of rotationof the catch pin 13 is obtained when the shoulders 30 and 31 of theprojections 25, 26 abut against the inclined face 29. On the other hand,the manufacture of the catch pin 13 with the inclined face 29 issimplified by this because the inclined face 29 can be produced in thismanner by the use of a milling cutter.

The portion 44 of the catch pin 13 abuts with a surface portion 32 ofits circumferential surface against one of the abutment faces 27, 28 ofthe projections 25 and 26 of the keeper 1]. These abutment faces 27 and28 are arranged concentric with reference to the axis of rotation of thecatch pin 13 and the shoulder or lead-in faces 30, 31 of the projections25 and 26 are convexly configurated, the turning of the catch pin 13 onclosing of the latch being thereby facilitated.

As already pointed out, the portion 44 of the catch pin 13 issubstantially cylindrical in its configuration. However, the centralaxis 45 of the portion 44 is located eccentrically with reference to theaxis of rotation 46 of the catch pin 13, and the central axis 45 isoffset towards that side at which the surface portion 32 is located.Thereby the surface portion 32 is farthest spaced from the axis ofrotation 46 and the joumaled end portions and 19 of the catch pin 13 maythus have a relatively small diameter. Also, the portion 44 may have arelatively small diameter and require relatively little material whileit is nevertheless still assured that the surface portion 32 isrelatively far spaced from the axis of rotation 46 of the catch pin 13.

The joumaled end portions 15 and 19 are joumaled in the bore 16 of thesleeve 14 and in the ring 20, respectively. The portion 44 of the pin 14located intermediate the end portions 15 and 19 is located in anenlarged bore portion 47 of the bushing 14 which in the embodiment ofFIGS. 1 and 2 is eccentric with respect to the axis of rotation 36 ofthe catch pin 13, the center point being in the open position of thecatch pin 13 approximately in coincidence with the center axis 45 oftheportion 44.

The forward or free end of the catch pin 13, rotatably secured in thebushing 14, extends into a recess 34 of the keeper 1]. The projections25 and 26 of the keeper are provided on a plate 48, which may forinstance consist of steel, which is secured at the outer side of thekeeper 11 and is slotted in the region of the recess 34. The width ofthe recess 34 is greater than the distance of the slot 49 and the upperedge of the latter is provided with the projections 25 and 26. At thatside of the bushing 14 which is opposite the cutout 24 the bushing isprovided with groove 37 into which the lower portion of the slottedplate 48 can extend. The depth of this groove 37 is greater than thewall thickness of the bushing 14 and the width of the cutout 24 and thewidth of the groove 37 is greater than the thickness of the slottedplate 48. Thus, the slotted plate 48 can extend into the bushing withthe edges of the slot 49 which face each other. The wider front end ofthe bushing 14 in part projects behind the slotted plate 48 so that thelatch is able to withstand strong stresses in a longitudinal directionof the catch pin 13. The groove 38 provided in the catch pin 13 and bymeans of which the inclined face 29 is provided, is wider than thecutouts 24 in the bushing 14 so that only the wider front end of thebushing 14 abuts against the rear side of the slotted plate 48 to serveas a safeguard against stresses acting in longitudinal direction of thecatch pin 13, which latter is freely turnable. The forward end of thebushing 14 abuts against the side surfaces 39 and 40 of the recess 34 inthe keeper 11, for guidance purposes. In the closure position of thelatch the forward end of the bushing 14 abuts against a cam face 41provided on the side surface 40 whereby the closure movement of the dooron closing of the latter is terminated. It should be noted that the camface 42 is of commashaped configuration so that the closure movement ofthe door, that is of the pin 13 into the recess 34, is opposed with anincreasing resistance as a result of this particular configuration ofthe cam face 41.

The lower side surface 39 of the recess 34 is constituted by a strip 50of sheet material which may consist of naturally hardened steel and/orhave a hard chrome-coated surface. The keeper 11, which advantageouslyconsists of cast material, is thus reinforced at' the engagement surfaceand damage and material removal as a result of friction is avoided or atleast reduced. As shown in the drawing, the strip 50 is pro vided with astepped rear portion 51 which is introduced into a slot 52 provided inthe keeper 11, and a bent over front end portion 53 which is snappedinto a slot 54 also provided in the keeper 11. This provides for a verysimple connection of the strip 50 with the keeper 11.

The slotted plate 48 is provided with cutouts 42 through which screwsmay be threaded which serve to connect the plate 48 with the keeper 11and the latter with the door frame. The screws are not illustrated. Thecutouts 42 are countersunk so that the heads of the mounting screws maybe recesses. Necks 43 are provided in the region of the cutouts 42 ofthe slotted plate 48 which extend into the cutouts 42 and are bent overso that in this manner the plate 48 is connected with the keeper 11 evenbefore the screws are placed through the eutouts 42 and threaded intothe door frame.

Coming now to the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, it will beseen that this corresponds substantially to that of FIGS. 1 and 2.Identical components are identified with identical reference numerals.In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, however, the boreportion 47 of the bushing 14 is concentric with the axis of rotation 46of the catch pin I3, rather than eccentric as in the embodiment of FIGS.1 and 2. This makes the portion 44 of the pin 13 freely turnable in thebore portion 47.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together, may also find a useful application in other types ofconstructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in alatch which is particularly suitable for vehicle doors, it is notintended to be limited to the details shown, since various modificationsand structural changes may be made with departing in any way from thespirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can by applying current knowledge,readily adapt it for various applications without omitting featuresthat, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essentialcharacteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.

We claim:

1. A latch, particularly for vehicle doors, comprising a keeper formounting on a door frame, said keeper being provided with a recesshaving an inner end and at least one projection extending into saidrecess and having a lead-in face and an abutment face extending inclinedto said lead-in face and facing said inner end of said recess; and acatch for mounting on a door associated with said door frame, said catchincluding a catch pin rotatable about its axis and being intennediateits ends provided with a cutout so as to form an intermediate pinportion of substantially semicircular cross section having an outercylindrical face with a central axis eccentrically arranged with respectto said axis of rotation and a contact face transverse to said face,said catch pin being biased about its axis to a first position in whichsaid contact face is arranged to contact said lead-in face in responseto movement of said catch into said recess, turning thereby said catchpin to a second position permitting movement of said catch pin past saidprojection into said recess, said catch pin returning after passing saidprojection to its first position so that a portion of said cylindricalface of said intermediate portion of said catch pin engages saidabutment face of said projection and prevents movement of said catch pinout of said recess.

2. A latch as defined in claim 1, wherein said abutment face of saidprojection is concentric with said axis of rotation of said latch pin.

3. A latch as defined in claim 2, wherein said keeper has two suchprojections arranged spaced from each other in the direction of movementof said catch toward said inner end of said recess.

4. A latch as defined in claim 1, and including a bearing bushingmounting said catch pin at opposite end portions for rotation, saidbushing being provided with a cutout exposing said intermediate portionof said catch pin.

5. A latch as defined in claim 4, wherein said intermediate portion hasa larger diameter than said end portions.

6. A latch as defined in claim 5, wherein said bushing has an enlargedbore portion housing said intermediate portion of said catch pin.

7. A latch as defined in claim 6, wherein said enlarged bore portion isconcentric with said axis of rotation of said latch pin.

8. A latch as defined in claim 6, wherein said enlarged bore portion iseccentric with respect to said axis of rotation of said latch pin andsubstantially coincides with said central axis of said intermediateportion of said catch pin when the latter is in said second position.

9. A latch as defined in claim 1, said central axis being eccentricrelative to said axis of rotation on that side of said catch pin whichengages said abutment face.

10. A latch as defined in claim 4,, at least that part of said bearingbushing which mounts one end portion of said catch pin being receivablein said recess of said keeper; and further comprising a strip ofmetallic material received in said recess and connected with a snapaction to said keeper, said strip abutting against said part of saidbearing bushing when the same is received in said recess.

11. A latch as defined in claim 10, said keeper being provided with apair of slots and said strip having end portions each snapped into oneof said slots.

12. A latch as defined in claim 11, said strip consisting of naturallyhardened steel.

13. A latch as defined in claim 11, said strip having a hardchromecoated surface adapted to engage said part of said bearing bushing.

1. A latch, particularly for vehicle doors, comprising a keeper formounting on a door frame, said keeper being provided with a recesshaving an inner end and at least one projection extending into saidrecess and having a lead-in face and an abutment face extending inclinedto said lead-in face and facing said inner end of said recess; and acatch for mounting on a door associated with said door frame, said catchincluding a catch pin rotatable about its axis and being intermediateits ends provided with a cutout so as to form an intermediate pinportion of substantially semicircular cross section having an outercylindrical face with a central axis eccentrically arranged with respectto said axis of rotation and a contact face transverse to said face,said catch pin being biased about its axis to a first position in whichsaid contact face is arranged to contact said lead-in face in responseto movement of said catch into said recess, turning thereby said catchpin to a second position permitting movement of said catch pin past saidprojection into said recess, said catch pin returning after passing saidprojection to its first position so that a portion of said cylindricalface of said intermediate portion of said catch pin engages saidabutment face of said projection and prevents movement of said catch pinout of said recess.
 2. A latch as defined in claim 1, wherein saidabutment face of said projection is concentric with said axis ofrotation of said latch pin.
 3. A latch as defined in claim 2, whereinsaid keeper has two such projections arranged spaced from each other inthe direction of movement of said catch toward said inner end of saidrecess.
 4. A latch as defined in claim 1, and including a bearingbushing mounting said catch pin at opposite end portions for rotation,said bushing being provided with a cutout exposing said intermediateportion of said catch pin.
 5. A latch as defined in claim 4, whereinsaid intermediate portion has a larger diameter than said end portions.6. A latch as defined in claim 5, wherein said bushing has an enlargedbore portion housing said intermediate portion of said catch pin.
 7. Alatch as defined in claim 6, wherein said enlarged bore portion isconcentric with said axis of rotation of said latch pin.
 8. A latch asdefined in claim 6, wherein said enlarged bore portion is eccentric withrespect to said axis of rotation of said latch pin and substantiallycoincides with said central axis of said intermediate portion of saidcatch pin when the latter is in said second position.
 9. A latch asdefined in claim 1, said central axis being eccentric relative to saidaxis of rotation on that side of said catch pin which engages saidabutment face.
 10. A latch as defined in claim 4, at least that part ofsaid bearing bushing which mounts one end portion of said catch pinbeing receivable in said recess of said keeper; and further comprising astrip of metallic material received in said recess and connected with asnap action to said keeper, said strip abutting against said part ofsaid bearing bushing when the same is received in said recess.
 11. Alatch as defined in claim 10, said keeper being provided with a pair ofslots and said strip having end portions each snapped into one of saidslots.
 12. A latch as defined in claim 11, said strip consisting ofnaturally hardened steel.
 13. A latch as defined in claim 11, said striphaving a hard-chrome coated surface aDapted to engage said part of saidbearing bushing.